Polycom Launches New Wave of Unified Communications Solutions

Unified Communications vendor Polycom today took to the NASDAQ to unveil a series of new products. All told, the new products enhancement are all targeted at making it easier to integrate, use and deploy video and voice collaboration.

"We have taken off the table, the challenge of video ubiquity, as we are taking all the disparate islands and bringing them together," Andy Miller, CEO of Polycom said during the NASDAQ event.

The updates to the Polycom platform and products are extensive. At the top of the list is the new RealPresence CloudAXIS suite. The CloudAXIS suite is an integration platform that is build on top of Polycom's RealPresence technology. CloudAXIS enables Skype, Facebook and GoogleTalk conversations and users

"What is unique is that we're terminating the calls on the RealPresense platform," Sudhakar Ramakrishna, President of Products and Services at Polycom said during the event.

Ramakrishna noted that there are a lot of Skype, Facebook and Google Talk users out in the market today. Polycom's challenge was to bring them all together onto the same common platform.

"Every user deserves to get a superior Polycom experience and the CloudAXIS suite enables us to make that reality," Ramakrishna said.

With the RealPresence CloudAXIS Suite, there is a user interface that lets users drag and drop participants from across the different technologies, into a single unified collaboration session.

User Experience

Another cornerstone of the Polycom product rollout is what the company is referring to as, 'The new Polycom User Experience' (Polycom UX). Ramakrishna said that the effort delivers a new user interface across all devices. In his view, some of the innovation are basic, but still compelling when it comes to user productivity.

User experience will also benefit from new tablet based control for Polycom's platform. The tablet based control is also being positioned by Polycom as being part of the ease of use story. With SmartPairing technology, tablet user can control a Polycom HDX system through software running on a tablet. The pairing occurs automatically without the need for extensive user setup or configuration.

"When a user comes in to a room they can associate with the system," Ramakrishna said. "There is no setup required."

Hardware

Polycom is also expanding its UC hardware based solutions with a new RealPresence Group Series set of products that complement the HDX. As well there is a RealPresence VisualEdge Executive desktop offering.

Ramakrishna noted that that new offering differ in terms of capacities and the number of access ports, He stressed however that they all offer the same ease of use and Polycom user experience.

With the VisualEdge solution in particular, Ramakrishna took the time to explain that it is an ultraslim and ultrasleek display. He noted that that the VisualEdge is not just for video collaboration bit it also has deep voice capabilities as well as calendar and contact functionality.

While the new products expand Polycom's product lineup, the company is still pushing forward on its HDX products as well.

"The HDX is the Cadillac of Polycom's products and technologies," Miller said He added that Polycom customers have deployed HDX, and it is Polycom's expectation that customers will keep buying the HDX and augment it with the new group series offerings.

"We have a perfect complement of products today," Miller said. "This is an extension of our product line."

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.